


1-7 Bubble Buddies

by iippo



Series: Steven Universe Renaissance [7]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen, alternative universe, there is one swear word in this story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-14
Updated: 2020-07-14
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:27:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25265344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iippo/pseuds/iippo
Summary: Steven looks like a hero when he forms a magic crystal bubble around himself to protect a girl he likes from danger, but then panics when he can't figure out how to turn the bubble off.
Series: Steven Universe Renaissance [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1796686
Kudos: 13





	1-7 Bubble Buddies

**Author's Note:**

> An alternative universe. See series page for details.

Beach City, a small city by the beach, was basking in the light of a nice, sunny day. A perfect day for getting some ice cream, or soaking your bare feet in the ocean, or going biking on the beach. Which was the plan of Steven Universe, a professional monsterfighter-slash-worldsaver (in training). Steven was leaving his house, wearing his bicycle helmet, pushing his bike carefully down the wooden steps that led from his front door to the beach. He was interrupted by a loud, roaring noise, which startled him so badly he let go of his bicycle, which then, according to the laws of gravity, continued on its own down the stairs and crashed to the sand below.

Steven ran after his bike just as Greg Universe and Amethyst – both members of Steven’s family – walked up towards the house.

“I don’t think they’re earthquakes,” Greg was saying to Amethyst, who looked nonchalant. “They’re too frequent!” There was a slight tone of freak-out detectable in his voice. He had come to ask Amethyst if some sort of gem-stuff was afoot as the whole beach was feeling the rumblings. As the resident Crystal Gem – indeed the only one in the world, if you didn’t count Steven, whose powers were still developing – Amethyst knew that she had to handle everything “magical” and she had been hoping to not have to do stuff today. Earthquakes were not her wheelhouse. 

“Hey look! Steven’s got a bike!” Amethyst changed the subject as they approached the house. “Where ya goin’, Steven?” She asked cheerfully.

“Just out for a ride,” Steven said, trying to discourage any further questioning.

“In the sand?” Greg asked, confused.

“Yup!” Steven answered and ran off, pushing his bike in the deep sand. He hopped and started to pedal. Slowly and with great effort, because of the resistance of the sand. But he pushed on until the object of his strange mission came to view.

A dark-haired girl was sitting on the beach in the shade of the cliff, reading a book.

Steven biked past her, got off the bike and parked it. With his back to the girl, he started to monologue. “Some smooth ride,” he announced, and glanced over his shoulder in her direction. “Five speeds... Hand brakes... Electric blue finish with a tiger bell!” He described his cool bike and even rang the bell, glancing at the girl between sentences.

She was engrossed in her book and didn’t look up.

Steven started to mount the bike again as he announced: “I bet there are a lot of kids who’d love to ride this bi-whoohoohoaaa!“ His soliloquy was interrupted when he overshot his ascent and the entire boy-bike heap came crashing down onto the sand.

The girl looked up. She saw the butt of a person bent over a bike on the ground. Steven rolled over and saw that she saw him. He felt so embarrassed he just got up and ran away yelling, removing and discarding his bicycle helmet as he went.

Steven ran back to the house and slammed the door shut behind him. He leaned on the door with his eyes closed, trying to catch his breath.

Amethyst and Greg had been watching from the window how everything shaked out. Steven noticed them when he opened his eyes.

“What’s up?” Steven asked, trying to be casual.

Amethyst and Greg straightened up away from the window. “Who were you talking to?” Greg asked, matching Steven’s casual tone.

“Huh?” Steven played coy.

“That girl!” Amethyst exclaimed.

“You saw?” Steven asked and started to blush. “She’s just a girl I know,” he said trying to dismiss the conversation. But Steven being Steven, he couldn’t let it slide that he had just told something that wasn’t true. “Except she doesn’t know me,” he corrected, and deflated, admitted: “we’ve never talked.”

Greg was about to offer his son some fatherly advice, when Amethyst gasped, rushed forward and squeezed Steven’s face between her hands. “You LIKE her!” She squealed, in her excitement hitting notes only dogs could hear. She gazed intently into his face.

“Uhh, I like everyone...” Steven mumbled through his squishy cheeks and pushed Amethyst away.

“Just go talk to her,” Greg interjected. Amethyst gave him a look of “when did you get all boring and responsible” but didn’t say anything and stepped away from Steven.

“Okay. But you guys can't watch this time!” Steven exclaimed with an angry expression and pointed at Greg. “It'll mess up my funky flow.”

“Funky flow?” Amethyst repeated, doing her best not to bust out laughing, or even grin.

“We won't watch,” Greg promised seriously.

“Alright!” Steven yelled and ran to the fridge. He reached in the freezer section and grabbed a glow bracelet.

”What's that?” Amethyst asked with a chuckle, but Steven just ran past her, yelling “Nothing!”

\- - -

Steven walked towards the spot where the girl had been sitting, practicing how he would introduce himself. “Hi! My name is Steven! Hi, my name is Ste-ven. Hi... My name, is... Stevan?”

Another earthquake shook the beach and Steven stumbled. “Whoh-whoah!” The girl was also startled by the quake. The cliff above her didn’t take kindly to a shaking and started to crumble. Steven gasped as he noticed that rocks were going to fall right on her and rushed forward.

“Hi, my name is Steven!” Steven yelled as he pounced on the startled girl. He wanted to push her out of the way of the falling rocks, but the deep sand slowed him down and he just landed on top of her. They were both going to get crushed.

But then Steven’s gem started to glow. Both kids were engulfed in a pink shape like a flower, which solidified around them into a sphere. The rock crashed on the protective bubble and shattered into pieces, leaving the children inside unharmed.

Steven was amazed. “Whoa! How did I do that?!” He wondered out loud. Then he turned to the girl, who was still pinned under him. “Hi! My name... is Steven!”

The girl, still laying on her back, adjusted her glasses. “Connie,” she introduced herself. She realised that this kid Steven had just saved her from death, or at least serious injury, and while she didn’t know what was the right thing to do or say in such a situation (she had read plenty of books where people were in such a situation, but she disliked the way most of those stories portrayed the characters who got saved, and she didn’t intend to act like them), she thought introducing herself as if nothing had happened felt a little... inappropriate. But she couldn’t really think of anything else to do; after all, she could have died just now.

Steven offered Connie her hand, which she took, and pulled her on her feet.

“What... happened?” Connie asked, looking up through the protective bubble. She looked behind her and touched the inner wall of the bubble. It was hard, but not particularly cold, like glass would be. There didn’t appear to be any seams in the material it was made of.

“I’m magic,” Steven explained. “Well, half magic, on my mom’s side.” He corrected and scratched the back of his head.

“You did this?” Connie asked, incredulously.

“Apparently,” Steven admitted. “I'm a member of the Crystal Gems, we fight monsters and protect humanity and stuff,” he bragged a little, playing it casual.

“Oh! That's kinda like my dad. He's a cop,” Connie said joining in on the getting-to-know-each-other bragging, but she couldn’t handle telling an untruth and corrected herself. “Well... more like a private security guard.”

Neither said anything for a while. Connie started to feel awkward, but Steven was immune to awkward silences and just stood there.

“So... how long does it usually last?” Connie asked to kill the silence and looked up at the bubble again.

“Oh! Right.” Steven realised he needed to somehow deactivate the bubble. He bent forward and strained and groaned, he even lifted his shirt and slapped his gem. Nothing happened.

“What's wrong?” Connie asked, looking at Steven’s gem. She had never seen anything like it before, not even in her mom’s medical books.

“It uh... doesn't seem to wanna go away,” Steven admitted, with an embarrassed shrug.

“Oh.” Connie looked down. It would appear that she would have to save herself, she thought and tried to think of what to do.

Steven panicked at the thought of Connie thinking he didn’t know what to do, so he started pushing on the inside of the bubble like a hamster in a ball. The bubble didn’t budge, as Connie was standing on the other side like a counter weight.

“So... I don't see you around that often,” Steven turned to say, still leaning on the bubble wall.

Connie, realising what Steven was wanting to do, came over to the same side and started to push too. ”I actually live outside Beach City, but I sometimes come out here on weekends with my dad when he goes to work,” she explained as they started moving.

“I go on adventures with Amethyst sometimes. She usually says it's too dangerous for me though,” Steven replied.

“Do you always go in a bubble?” Connie asked.

“No, this is new.” Steven looked up at the bubble. “I don't know what this is.” Noticing Connie’s concerned expression, he hurried to add: “But it's okay! Amethyst will know what to do!”

They kept rolling the bubble along the beach towards Steven's house. But the house was on a hill, and they weren’t able to roll the bubble up the slope.

“Awww what?” Steven exclaimed and looked at the house; so close, but so far away. He pushed as hard as he could but the bubble wouldn’t roll uphill.

“Hey guys! Amethyst! Dad! Help!” Steven yelled.

Connie watched Steven call for help. “I don't think they can hear you,” she pointed out.

Steven facepalmed. “Aaaww... That's right. I told them not to watch,” he mumbled.

“We can just wait here until they come out,” Connie said and looked towards the house. She wondered if the house had a backdoor or some other exit, or would they definitely come out from the front.

Steven felt like Connie was getting unimpressed with his abilities. “No, no, no, it's okay! I've got other friends that can help!” He said and coaxed her to push the bubble with him down along the beach.

Eventually they got to the Big Donut. Luckily Sadie was cleaning the tables outside and Steven was able to get her to understand their predicament.

“Hang on, I’ll go look for something to break the bubble with,” Sadie said and disappeared inside. She came back with a hammer - followed by Lars - and started to hammer the bubble.

Lars couldn’t believe his eyes, and burst out laughing. Steven was trapped in a ball with a girl!

“Way to go, Steven!” He hollered, laughing. “Is this your magic love bubble or something? Did you make it because you're in looove?” He pressed against the bubble to tease Steven.

“That's Lars. We're basically BFFs,” Steven told Connie, completely unphased by Lars’s attempts to humiliate him.

“He makes weird faces,” Connie observed, as Lars was making kissy-faces at them and licking the bubble. Lars was making Connie very uncomfortable, but she didn’t say anything, because Steven had said Lars was his friend.

Sadie noticed Connie’s distress and yelled: “Lars, quit being a jerk and help!”

“What? I'm helping Steven on his date,” Lars joked, though he did stop licking the bubble long enough to argue with Sadie.

“You're embarrassing him!” Sadie yelled and stopped hammering to get in Lars’s face.

“No, I'm not!”

“Yes, you are!”

“He and Sadie run the Big Donut,” Steven explained, as if nothing was going on.

“Do... they get along?” Connie asked, unsure how to feel or where to look. Sadie was pushing Lars, who was waving his arms in the air.

Steven nodded. “They're crazy about each other.”

Sadie stopped talking to Lars and ran inside the donut shop. “I'm gonna go try something else!”

“Anyway,” Steven turned to Connie, “this place has the best doughnuts! I come here, like, everyday!” He wanted his new friend to know all about all his favourite places in town.

“My parents don't let me eat doughnuts,” Connie said flatly. “They have trans fats,” she explained.

“Whaaaaat??!!” Steven reacted to the most horrifying thing he had ever heard, ignoring the fact that Lars was back on his bullshit. “Well it's still a cool place to hang out,” Steven offered. He was worried that Connie wouldn’t like anything in Beach City – including him.

But his thoughts were interrupted by a primordial scream when Sadie came barreling out of the Big Donut, brandishing a stool above her head. “Aaaahhh!!!” Lars covered his ears as she screamed and slammed the stool against the bubble as hard as she could. The stool smashed to pieces, leaving Sadie holding two sticks.

Steven looked at Connie, who was too stunned to say anything. He chuckled nervously and said, “I have a better idea!” And before Connie could say anything, Steven started rolling the bubble towards the pier.

Connie was excited seeing all the cool boats at the pier, and named them as she spotted them: “Whoa, a trawler! And a little skip-jack!”

“You know a lot about boats,” Steven admired.

Connie cheered up. “That's what happens when you hang out at the beach and don't swim and don't have friends... Y-you look at boats...” she trailed off.

“Heh, uh...” Steven mumbled awkwardly and didn’t know what to say. He was worried that maybe Connie didn’t like friends. But Steven’s concern was interrupted when he noticed a boy holding a bag of popcorn running down the pier. “Oh hey, Onion, Onion!” They chased after the kid. Onion stopped and turned around to see the big sphere following him. Onion waved as he recognised his friend Steven Universe.

“We need a Harpoon Gun!” Steven yelled to Onion.

“What?!” Connie yelled in a panic.

Steven turned to explain: “To pop the bubble.”

“Can't we just go back to your house?” Connie pleaded.

“It's okay, I'm a Gem,” Steven tried to reassure her. She wasn’t reassured, but he didn’t notice and turned to Onion, who was watching them while eating his popcorn.

“Onion, we need a harpoon gun!” Steven yelled through the bubble. Onion didn’t react. “HAR-POON-GUUUN!” He enunciated, to no effect.

Steven sighed and breathed on the inside surface of the bubble, fogging it up. He began to draw on the fog, first a boat, then a large sphere, water, sun in the sky with some clouds, and a line from the boat to the sphere. “Haar-pooon-guuun...” he continued to enunciate. Onion understood nothing. “Ughh!” Steven groaned and facepalmed.

“Let me try,” Connie said with a smile. She breathed fog on the bubble too and spelled out "harpoon gun" backwards so that the text was the right way round for Onion. Onion read the text, gave her a thumbs up and ran off. Steven looked at Connie, impressed. “It just made more sense,” she said dismissive with a shrug.

A loud boat horn blared drowning all other sound out. Steven and Connie startled, and looked towards the source of the sound. Onion was aboard a near-by boat, manning the harpoon gun at the bow. Steven and Connie screamed and flattened against the sides of the bubble as far away from the middle as they could get when Onion fired. The harpoon hit its mark but didn’t pop the bubble; instead it ricocheted off the bubble and struck a boat nearby. Onion gave them a thumbs up.

“The trawler...” Connie bemoaned as she watched the struck boat sink. Even Steven couldn’t come up with anything to say that would make it all seem okay. They rolled the bubble away; Onion had disappeared and they didn’t want to stick around to answer any questions.

Rolling along the Boardwalk they got to Funland and Steven perked up. “We should go in there!” He exclaimed.

"Funland?" Connie asked.

“Yeah! Tons of horrible accidents happen here everyday! There's gotta be something to break this bubble.” Steven’s cheery reply left little room to question. “We just gotta find the right ride,” he added, looking around. Connie’s hesitancy was not coming through to Steven, who spotted the roller coaster.

“Yeah, the kiddie coaster!” They stepped onto the platform as the roller coaster was taking off. Steven was feeling confident, but Connie looked at the speed of the roller coaster with mounting concern.

“Alright, we just roll down this ramp as the carts are coming at us, and the crash will break us free!” Steven explained the plan.

“What happens after the bubble pops?” Connie asked, pleading Steven to reconsider.

“We'll be free!” Steven exclaimed, seeing no flaws in the plan.

Connie paused, trying to think of how to express herself.

She took a deep breath and said: “Steven, this is a bad idea-“

The ground shook and they could hear a distant roaring noise. The swaying ground took control of the bubble and the two kids weren’t strong enough to stop it from falling onto the roller coaster tracks. The bubble rolled down the tracks with the two kids spinning inside, unable to keep up with the speed. They swooshed past the little booth where Mr. Smiley was operating the ride, startling him.

The roller coaster came up to meet them right before the bubble fell over the edge of a steep curve in the tracks. The cars pushed the bubble back past Mr. Smiley’s booth where he hit the emergency break, stopping the roller coaster. Unfortunately there was nothing to stop the bubble, which flew over the edge of the roller coaster and towards the ocean. Steven and Connie could do nothing but scream.

The bubble hit the water with a huge splash and sank like a stone straight to the bottom.

Steven and Connie were laying flat on the bottom of the bubble, dazed. Connie’s glasses had fallen off. She scrambled to her feet.

“Where are we?” She asked.

Steven picked up her glasses and handed them to her. “The bottom of the ocean,” he admitted. Connie gasped. “It’s okay!” Steven tried to assure her.

“Are we even close to the shore?” Connie asked, keeping her voice under control but her face revealed that she was freaking out.

“Yeah, sure!” Steven pretended to know.

“Let's start rolling.” Connie needed to keep moving to keep the fear at bay. She didn’t believe anymore that Steven knew what he was doing, but she didn’t even care, she just needed to keep moving.

“It's a good thing this bubble is airtight, otherwise we'd be drowning right now,” Steven observed, then realised that maybe he shouldn’t have said that. He started laughing nervously, but noticed that Connie was grimacing. “Don't worry Connie, I have an idea that will definitely work. When we get back-“

Steven wasn’t able to finish his master plan, for a huge worm-like monster swam past above them, scaring Connie. She covered her eyes and crouched away from the monster.

“Whoa! A huge worm!” Steven admired it. “It's okay, look!” He said to Connie, who turned to look. “It only wants to eat that bright stuff.” They watch the worm eat some glowing red sea weed. “See? Not scary at all.”

The Worm Monster gulped up all the sea weed, roared and burrowed into the bottom of the seabed. The power of the monster shook the ground like an earthquake and created a huge crevice in the ocean floor, which spread rapidly directly under Steven and Connie and their bubble. They had no hope of getting out of its path and the bubble feel deep into the dark crack.

The bubble hit the bottom with a thud, knocking the kids off their feet. Steven came to, and to his horror realised his foot was in Connie’s face. “Oh! Sorry! Are you alright?”

Connie stood up. She said nothing and her expression was blank. She was done.

“It's not so bad,” Steven said cheerily, then looked up through the bubble to the distant source of light above them. There was no way up or out of the crevice. “Uhhh. I-It's okay, I uh...” he faltered, desperate to still somehow turn everything around.

“It's not okay!” Connie yelled.

Steven startled and fell quiet.

“You keep saying that but you don't know what you're doing! Now we're going to suffocate or starve at the bottom of the ocean and only my parents will notice because no one else cares about me!” Connie raged with tears welling up in her eyes.

Steven was stunned.

“I'm gonna disappear without ever making a single friend...” Connie said, deflated now that all the anger had spilled out. She covered her eyes and sat down to cry.

Steven said nothing, but he pulled out the glowstick bracelet he had retrieved from his freezer, knelt down and held it out to Connie. She uncovered her eyes and stopped crying because she was so surprised.

“We can be friends,” Steven said with a smile. Connie blushed.

“I saw you at the Boardwalk Parade last year,” Steven explained. “You dropped your bracelet. I picked it up, but then I couldn't find you. I saved it in the freezer so it would last longer, in case I saw you again.”

“Oh!” Connie remembered. “You were the kid on the car wash float!” She chuckled. “You had soap bubbles in your hair.”

Steven blushed and laughed. “I was supposed to be a scrub brush.” They both laughed.

“I'm sorry Connie,” Steven said and took Connie’s arm and slipped the bracelet on her wrist. “If I had returned your bracelet back then, you wouldn't be stuck in this bubble with me now.” He really felt bad for all that had happened.

“No, it's okay. I'm having fun,” Connie said with a smile. She wasn’t sure why she had said that; it just sort of came out. And it was true for this very moment. Though she realised they could have had a funny moment remembering the Parade without jumping in front of a roller coaster.

Suddenly the bubble burst.

Connie covered her mouth and nose with her hands so as to not let any air escape. Steven remembered what Connie had said on the pier about not swimming and took her arm, pointed up and started kicking. Connie did her best to help by paddling with her free hand and kicking her feet, though her boots made it feel really weird and uncomfortable. It all happened so fast she didn’t even have the time to be afraid.

They broke through the surface, gasping for air. The sun had set, everything around them was a hazy blue. Connie was coughing having inhaled some water, and it hurt her chest. After a moment of being stunned, Steven started laughing. Connie just stared at him, still stunned, unsure of how to react.

Steven didn’t laugh long, for the Worm Monster also surfaced and attacked them. The attack caused a large wave, which threw the kids onto the shore. They crashed onto the sand, Steven on his stomach and Connie on her knees. She looked over her shoulder and saw the Worm coming for them as she scrambled up.

“Come on, come on,” Connie grabbed Steven and helped him on his feet, and they ran along the sand and under Funland’s pier.

The Worm slithered along the sand, not hindered by the different environment.

“Hide in the rocks, Steven!” Connie shouted and started to climb up the rocks under the pier, but Steven ran along the sand. He turned to look and saw that the monster was following Connie, not him.

Connie jumped down from the rocks to get away from the monster. She attempted some evasive maneuvers but the monster didn’t let up, and she started a mad dash across the sand.

“Why is it chasing us?!” Steven cried out in frustration – he had seen it at the bottom of the ocean eating sea weed, not humans. Then he noticed that Connie was still wearing the glow bracelet, and he finally connected the dots. “The bracelet! It eats bright stuff! Connie!” He ran towards Connie.

“Steven!” Connie yelled, running out of options on what to do. Steven caught up with her and adjusted so that they were running in the same direction.

“Give me the bracelet!” Steven yelled and held out his hand.

“What?!” Connie didn’t understand.

“It's okay,” Steven yelled and took the bracelet from Connie’s wrist. “Now go, go! Run that way!” He pushed Connie so that their paths diverged. Connie yelped, trying to maintain her balance and speed after being pushed. “I'm sorry!” Steven hollered and ran in the opposite direction.

The Worm Monster followed Steven now. Steven zigzagged around the pillars of the pier while yelling frantically. He jumped over the Worm’s body, did a turn around a pillar, and managed to get the Worm Monster to tie itself into a knot. He dashed out from under the pier and stopped panting next to Connie just in time to see the monster struggle against the pier so strongly that as it pulled, the pillars gave in and the entire structure collapsed, crushing the monster. They watched in horror and instinctually reached out to hold hands.

The monster poofed, sending dust and bits of wood flying everywhere.

As the dust settled, Steven and Connie were still standing still, holding hands.

Amethyst came running down the beach, attracted by the noise. Greg was following behind, much slower, gasping for air from the strenuous excercise of running.

“Steven! Steven, what's going on?! What did you do?!” Amethyst yelled as she approached.

Steven and Connie turned around to face her. “He was incredible!” Connie exclaimed before Steven could think of any explanation.

“Really? You mean it?” He said and turned to look at Connie in astonishment. Connie looked him in the eyes and nodded while Amethyst picked up the fallen Gem and bubbled it away.

“Here's your bracelet... again,” Steven said. Connie took it with a thanks and they both chuckled. Amethyst joined them and grabbed Steven by the shoulder.

“So, are you going to introduce us?” She teased. Steven blushed. “Steven was so excited to meet you,” Amethyst said to Connie. “Right, Steven?” Steven nodded awkwardly and laughed nervously.

Greg – having slowed to a walk to catch his breath when he had seen Amethyst reach Steven and that everything appeared to be okay – finally reached the group and picked Amethyst up to carry her off. ”Hey! Don't mess with his funky flow,” he scolded her and walked off.

“Funky... flow?” Connie said quizzically.

“Uhh...” Steven groaned; he was so embarrassed that he wanted to sink into the sand.


End file.
